Octavia is a very solid monthly figure, but I think Mattel missed an opportunity to make her great. I’ll always refer back to Fisto when talking about great MOTUC figures. The reason I consider Fisto to be one of the greatest Masters of the Universe Classics figures ever made is because he captures both the vintage and modern looks by giving you both options. Octavia really doesn’t have the luxury of living up to a vintage toy, but she is an amazing toy in all aspects such as paint, sculpt, articulation, etc. What would have made this figure great is if they had given her bendy tentacles.

When Mattel made MOTUC Fisto they made the best toy of that character they could. You can’t quite say the same about Octavia because while she is great, it is pretty clear they could have done a little more for her. I would guess most people can guess what that thing is: bendy tentacles. This isn’t a knock against the tentacles she comes with because they are functional for what they are. But being able to pose them would have been a little detail that would have gone a long way towards making this figure great.

Horde women …

So why did they elect not to put bendy tentacles on Octavia? It’s been asked quite a bit so to claim they never thought of it would be silly. Instead I think it comes back to trying to save money. Mattel did attempt the bendy material with Snout Spout, and unfortunately they used such poor quality foam-like material that many people reported their figure’s trunk cracking and breaking down after a few months. After seeing stress marks on my Snout Spout’s trunk I made it a point not to touch it again, so the material they used was of questionable quality. The resolution to this is why a lot of people get up in arms with Mattel.

When it was finally acknowledged that the material used for Snout Spout was breaking down Mattel offered an apology and that fans could return their figure for a refund if they chose. That part was fine and made complete sense. But followed by the apology they then claimed that bendy material does not hold up and no figures will use it again. No, bendy materials hold up just fine. It is when you use some cheap foam substance to make them they will fall apart. Mattel sometimes admits when they are trying to save money (black plastic, body reuse, etc.), but they never wanted to admit that they thought this cheaper foam material was “good enough” to save them some cash.

I’ve bought quite a few recent releases with bendy material that hold up fine, and I can also list some older stuff I have lying around the house that hasn’t broken down:

While not the longest list in the world (I’m sure there are others out there I forgot) it still goes to show that there seems to be a proper way to do these things. While I appreciate the apology, I don’t think throwing your hands up and screaming “it’s impossible” is the proper response when a figure could benefit from it.

Past what could have been, Octavia is a solid figure all around. The theme of the Horde releases has been the personalized crossbow. and Octavia comes with her own mini-Cthulhu themed weapon. She also includes four swords which can be clipped onto each of her tentacles, but can also be held in hand if you prefer. I hate to beat a dead horse if her tentacles could be posed a bit more those swords would make for some great combat poses.

I’ll mention it every time that they use the original female legs instead of the “improved” second version. I prefer the old legs because they give you more posing options. Another nice thing is that the rocker ankles are alive and well with her as well; although the ankles are a little loose on mine.

Octavia is a great addition to the Masters of the Universe Classics collection. I don’t think she is the best of the year but certainly falls into the top three trailing Karatti and Fang Man. Even though the tentacles don’t move they are sculpted really well, and her color scheme really pops. She came out last month so she is long gone from the Mattycollector store, however if you check out some other sites like Amazon you can grab her at a decent price. Octavia fills another rank of the Evil Horde which has gotten a lot of love from Mattel throughout the life of this line. She also isn’t the last scheduled member for this year as we can expect Mantenna in the later months.

Don’t be put off by all my bendy tentacle ranting, Octavia is a great action figure. I just want to point out that sometimes the company responsible for making her makes poor decisions, and it can cause a great figure like her not live up to its potential. Should that stop a Masters of the Universe Classics collector from buying her? Absolutely not, I’m glad we got her and that she turned out as great as she did.

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